Hawks make national footprint

NBC loves ratings they pull in across country as well as hefty share in huge local market

May 22, 2013|Ed Sherman

The Blackhawks are as close to a national team as any in the NHL.

Look no further than NBC. The network is riding the Hawks hard during the playoffs. The reason is simple: Ratings.

The Hawks' local numbers from the nation's No. 3 market are having a huge impact on the overall national rating for their games on NBC and NBC Sports Network. In Chicago, an average of nearly 300,000 viewers tuned in for Game 3 on NBC Sports Network Monday night. That's nearly 20 percent of the estimated 1.6 million viewers who tuned in across the country.

Let's say there are many Hawks fans within the executive offices at NBC Sports.

"A big market like Chicago, which is as hot a market as you can have in terms of TV ratings, makes a difference," said Sam Flood, NBC Sports' executive producer. "Your ratings are going to be dramatically different for Ottawa-Edmonton than if you have Chicago, Boston or Detroit playing.

"Boston has that kind of reach, but it isn't as big a market as Chicago. The same with Pittsburgh, Detroit (which do big local ratings). The Rangers have it to some degree, but sports viewership in New York is somewhat splintered. Chicago is a huge market with star power."

Flood noted that there are many transplanted Chicagoans "who follow the team with a passion." And playing in the Western Division extends the Hawks' reach into those markets compared to teams in the East.

"The Hawks are consumed across the country, which is what you want," Flood said.

The Hawks' appeal is seen in Flood's choice of announcers for the series: The No. 1 line of Mike Emrick, Ed Olcyzk and Pierre McGuire. In virtually every other scenario, they would be assigned to Bruins-Rangers in the East.

"It was Chicago one, Detroit two," Flood said of his reasons. "(With all the games in the Eastern and Central time zones), we thought it was important to have them on this series."

It now figures to be a long series. As usual, Flood said he and NBC are only rooting for one thing: A Game 7, which typically pull in the highest ratings.

"We wouldn't mind that," Flood said.

Searching the dial: If you were confused where to find some of the Hawks playoff games on radio, you weren't alone. For most of the regular season, the Hawks were shuttled to WIND-AM 560 when their games conflicted with the Cubs on WGN-AM 720.

However, the Hawks' shadow station now is WLUP-FM 97.9 and will be for the "foreseeable future," according to Jeff Hill, the interim general manager at WGN. The Hawks and WGN are trying to get the word out.

"We were having difficulty clearing some of the games on WIND as well as other stations," Hill said. "So we ran three games in April on the Loop and feel the station and its audience matched the Blackhawks consumer better than many of our other alternatives."

WGN and the Hawks catch a break this week. The Cubs play afternoon games Thursday and Saturday, which means Games 4 and 5 of the Hawks-Detroit series will air on WGN during the evening. Game 3 also was on WGN because the Cubs were off Monday.

Ratings game: The Bulls did win their head-to-head matchup with the Hawks last Wednesday. Game 5 of their series against the Heat did an 8.87 rating in Chicago, while Game 1 of Hawks-Detroit did an 8.13; 1 local ratings point is worth just above 35,000 homes.

However, all things weren't equal. There's a big difference between a Game 5 compared to a Game 1, a much bigger sense of urgency.

Also on the ratings front, the combination of Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox and Cubs meant a big April for CSN. An estimated 7 million viewers tuned into the station during the month.

Remote patrol: The Cubs-White Sox series still matters, right? CSN will have expanded coverage of all four games at U.S. Cellular Field and Wrigley Field next week. … The Sky will have 24 games featured on WCIU's outlets this year. WCIU-Ch. 26 will air two games, and its "U Too" station will carry the other 22. … The entire U.S. Open tennis tournament will air exclusively on ESPN, beginning in 2015. CBS has been covering the event since 1968. … Ken Venturi, who died last week, is being lauded for his work with The Stuttering Foundation. Venturi suffered from a severe stutter as a child, making his long TV career as an analyst even more remarkable.

For those of you who can't get enough of Adam Schefter, ESPN is launching NFL Insiders in August. The new show will be information-oriented, featuring NFL reporters like Schefter, Chris Mortensen and John Clayton. No players allowed. "We have one rule: If you played in the league, you're not going to be on the show," producer Seth Markman said.

Even though it is raking in cash, ESPN still laid off several hundred employees Tuesday. The network said: "We are implementing changes across the company to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing costs. While difficult, we are confident that it will make us more competitive, innovative and productive." … That didn't take long. Dave Briggs already is out as Michelle Beadle's co-host on "The Crossover" on NBC Sports Network. The show definitely is struggling to hit its stride.

And finally, there was a memorial service for Cooper Rollow on Sunday. The former Tribune sports editor and longtime NFL writer, who died last month at 87, was remembered fondly for being a colorful character who carried considerable clout during his day. "If Cooper was calling, Pete Rozelle picked up his phone," said Don Pierson, whose long career at the Tribune began when Rollow hired him.